A baby shower

Although it seems like all the family schtuff should have quieted down by now - it hasn't! Yesterday I attended a baby shower -lots of family there that I haven't seen in years (sheesh, it sounds like I *never* see family! :D).
Anyway, I made this card for the mom to be. Originally I started with a *completely* different card in mind. About half way through I realized that what I had planned was *not* going to work - so I went off on the baby tangent! :)
As you can see, I started with a circle base in a metallic finish. The quarter moon shape was cut from some of my Kioshi stash. I ran a clear glitter pen around the flowers and the stems - why does that never show up? I sewed very loose stitches through the ribbon & gathered it before attaching it to the back of the Kioshi paper. This is where I ran into trouble. Since I was near the end of the roll (and didn't want to 'waste' any) I used way too much! So much that I had to add *triple* layers of foam tape around the ribbon to support the moon - and I probably should have use four layers. Note to self: use less ribbon, or finer ribbon in the future!
Sadly, I didn't have any teddy bear stamps that worked with the scale of the card. I scoured the internet looking for just the right image and finally settled on this one (which came from a site where you can print off coloring book images). You can see a close up view of the bear here - I used two different techniques from TJ - one called Level Up and one called Paper Peeling. The bear is subtly dimensional (I never remember that I don't like fussy cutting until after I've started and there are *four* layers on some of his parts!) and a little fuzzy (from the peeling). I used a couple of distress inks and a copic marker to color him. The sentiment is from a clear set by Inkadinkado (found at JoAnn's several years ago).
Thanks for dropping by! :)

My first digistamp!

I finally broke the seal! :)
Although there have been some interesting moments trying to print it (Vista *still* does not play well with others on the network) and some frustration with printing in black & white *only*, I finally got my first digi printed and made into a card. Woohoo!
The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil Too shop. I just *adore* this little angel. There are a few (ok, a lot) more images that I want to try, but Michael was my first.
A few of the details:
Michael was printed on our HP deskjet printer (it's pretty old) on Georgia Pacific white card stock. I wasn't sure that actual card stock would go through, but there was no problem with that.
Coloring was mostly done with colored pencils - Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor (I like these way better than prismacolors) - and OMS. The cloud that he's resting on was colored with some gray pencil along the bottom & then gone over with white Smooch. Sorry, I just couldn't seem to get a good picture of the shine! The other thing I learned is that my printer ink does not do well with Copics. If you look close at the bottom of the cloud you can see where I tried to add some sky color - and it made the black ink run a little. So, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good for a first try!
The cloud background was done with a scalloped circle and Distress Inks in Weathered Wood and Broken China. You can see that I went over the cloud tops with more Smooch - it gives you an idea of what Michael's cloud looks like IRL.
The edges were punched with a punch from paper studio, I wanted to go all around but I couldn't get it to line up nicely. Instead I used some of the star punched pieces and glued them around the edges of the layer. Those were given a little Smooch too! :)
Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed your stay!

How 'bout something quiet?

So, how would you like to see something 'quiet'? You know, some things just require a more restrained touch... weddings, funerals, new babies. Somehow I don't imagine that a *bright* card is always appropriate - or appreciated! :D

Here's a little something that I made for a friend when his wife was pregnant. Can you imagine, I think their baby boy is four months old now! This really was an easy card to stamp and I was able to use my Curvy Cutter (this was before I got circle Nesties!). A little glitter pen, a few 'fake' dew drops and voila!
The stamps are from Inkadinkado, a clear set that was only available at Joann's earlier this year. I know you can't really tell, but those circles were outlined with a brown glitter pen - sparkly IRL, I promise! At first I wanted to center all the circles on top of eachother but it looked too much like a bull's eye. Ack, not the right look! Now these are the 'fake' dew drops that you could find at Michaels - I haven't seen them in months, but they were in floral and they have flat backs. I do have some of the real thing. Honestly the differences are mostly size (real DD are smaller) and finish (there are rough spots on the fake ones that can be trimmed off with scissors), otherwise they feel pretty much the same. You do have to use a clear drying glue to adhere them or maybe something with glitter - Stickles anyone? :)
Thanks for dropping by!

Recipe: Light & dark aqua cardstock, brown cardstock & brown pattern sb paper, brown glitter pen, aqua ink, versamark & white embossing powder, Score It, acrylic drops, white ribbon, Glossy Accents (to glue the acrylic drops) and double sided foam tape.